John Albert Powley (3 August 1936 – 16 October 2020) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South between 1983 and 1987 and served as the chairman of the

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a me ...

from 2011 to 2013. Powley also ran for MP for Harlow in 1979, but was beaten by

Labour and Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and the Co-operativ ...

politician

Stan Newens Arthur Stanley Newens (4 February 1930 – 2 March 2021) was a British Labour Co-operative politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1983, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 1999. Born ...

Biography

He was born to Albert and Evelyn Powley on 3 August 1936. He attended

Cambridge Grammar School (He who does things for others does them for himself) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = Nondenominational Christian , president = , head_label = Head , he ...

and the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology before undergoing

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

with the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. Powley was elected to

Cambridge City Council Cambridge City Council is a district council in the county of Cambridgeshire, which governs the City of Cambridge. History Cambridge was granted a Royal Charter by King John in 1207, which permitted the appointment of a mayor. The first recorde ...

and Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely County Council in 1967. In the mid-1970s, he was instrumental in the construction of the Grafton Centre in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

, a shopping centre, though there was controversy at the time over the demolition of a number of nineteenth-century terraces as a result. He was leader of the City Council beginning in 1976. At the 1979 general election, he contested Harlow, securing a 13% swing from Labour to Conservative, which just failed to oust Labour MP

(by 1,392 votes). He was elected as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for Norwich South in the Conservative landslide at the

1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general e ...

, defeating Labour incumbent John Garrett, with a majority of 1,712 votes. However, at the 1987 election Garrett regained the seat with a narrow majority of 336 votes. Powley returned to local government in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

following his defeat. He served as one of the county councillors for

Soham Soham ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of East Cambridgeshire, in Cambridgeshire, England, just off the A142 between Ely and Newmarket. Its population was 10,860 at the 2011 census. History Archaeology The region between Dev ...

and was prominent as a spokesman for the local community following the

Soham murders The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident a ...

of 2003. He was Chairman of

for two years from 2011 to 2013, when he decided not to stand for re-election to the County Council after about 50 years of public service. He married Jill Palmer in 1957 and had three children with her: Stephen, Amanda and Stewart. Powley died in October 2020 at the age of 84.Members of our Association who have died during 2020
/ref>

References

External links

* *''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'',

Times Newspapers Ltd News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

, 1987 *
Cambridgeshire County CouncilPowley's profile at Cambridge County CouncilEastern Daily Press, 25 May 2013
1936 births 2020 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Cambridgeshire County Council People from Soham UK MPs 1983–1987 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1930s-stub